SNAPCHAT: Is There Any Value In Moments That Don't Last Forever?

If you have an iPhone or Android and you don’t know what Snapchat is, you’ve definitely been living under a rock! But for that caveman-style minority, Snapchat is a brand new […]


If you have an iPhone or Android and you don’t know what Snapchat is, you’ve definitely been living under a rock! But for that caveman-style minority, Snapchat is a brand new app that allows you to send photos or videos to friends who view them for a select amount of time, and then they’re gone forever. Here at The Tab, we’re wondering whether this new craze is just a bit of harmless fun, or something a bit more serious.

Snapchat is a fast-growing new photo sharing application that lets you take photos or videos, add captions or doodles and then send them to your friends (or strangers) who can only view them for a select amount of time (between one and ten seconds) until they then disappear forever.

This ‘self destruct’ app has caught on quickly, with over 60 million photos or videos being sent every day, and social media sites have cottoned on to its success, with parody Twitter account ‘Snapchat Problems‘ gaining more followers every day.

What Snapchat THINKS users send…

Former Stanford University students and creators of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, put its popularity down to the fact that memories can be shared without feeling like your intimate moments will be plastered all over social media sites. For people who don’t want to worry about unflattering pictures or embarrassing status updates coming back to haunt them, the app’s appeal seems obvious.

I’ve received some hilarious snapchats over the past couple of weeks, ranging from people’s pets, to awful karaoke renditions, to nudity, to ‘ugly selfies’, with a fellow Soton Tab writer pointing out that he enjoys sending pictures of his genitalia and his poo faces to unsuspecting friends.

There is, unfortunately, a darker side to this new app. What kinds of material do you think teenagers would send each other, knowing that the pictures or videos will be erased after only a few seconds? You guessed it. Snapchat has fast become known for its promiscuous reputation, with users sending risqué photos to one another, thinking that no-one else will see them.

What people REALLY send…

While the temporary nature of Snapchat may encourage people to send dirty pictures, unfortunately it is possible to take a screenshot of those pictures and preserve them forever. Explicit images sent via Snapchat prompted a police investigation in the USA after two high school girls shared pictures on the app and later found them posted on Instagram, after a classmate screen-shotted the racy pictures.

If it takes your fancy, you can also Snapchat complete strangers, and you’ll probably receive something equally creepy back.

Creators Spiegel and Murphy have fiercely defended their popular app, saying it is not about sexting; they go on to say: “I think our application makes communication a lot more human and natural” and that Snapchat is like a “new way of passing notes in class”.

A prominent entrepreneur and investor in the US has taken the creators of Snapchat under his wing, with the company being valued at between $60 and $70 million dollars, even without an established revenue stream, as the app is completely free.

Speigel and Murphy… I wonder if they send pictures of their junk to each other….?

So what do you make of Snapchat? What are some of the funniest/worst images you’ve received? Have you sent anything risqué knowing it ‘definitely won’t’ be seen by anyone else? If you want to see what the fuss is all about, Snapchat can be downloaded for free from the App Store or Google Play.